§ Mr. AncramTo ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs how much the Foreign Office spent on(a) advertising and (b) public relations consultants in (i) 1996–97 and (ii) the latest year for which figures are available. [184502]
§ Mr. StrawIn FY 2002–03—the most recent year for which audited figures are available—separately identifiable expenditure by the Foreign and Commonwealth Office (FCO) on UK advertising totalled £743,783. Of this, £716234 related to media spend on advertising for recruitment purposes. The balance related to consular media advertisements which aimed to raise awareness among the British public of the importance of being properly prepared before travelling overseas and to advertising of the FCO's public open days. The total figure is based on the final accounts for FY 2002–03 and replaces the figure which I supplied to the right hon. Gentleman on 7 January 2004,Official Report, column 411W, which drew on provisional calculations. I apologise to the right hon. and learned Gentleman for the fact that this was not made clear in my previous answer.
172WThe FCO's central expenditure on public relations consultancy in FY 2002–03 totalled £291,971. Of this, £268,862 was paid to a single agency for work on the Consular awareness-raising campaign, 'Know Before You Go'.
The FCO's overseas posts and its non-departmental public bodies also commission advertising and occasionally employ public relations consultants, but details are not recorded centrally. Information about the costs incurred by these activities could be provided only at disproportionate costs.
Records of expenditure by the FCO's expenditure on advertising and public relations consultants in FY 1996–97 are not held centrally. Figures for that year could be provided only at disproportionate costs.
§ Mr. AncramTo ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs what the cost was of running Foreign Office canteen facilities in(a) 1996–97 and (b) the latest year for which figures are available. [184507]
§ Mr. StrawIn 1996–97, the cost of providing catering to the Foreign and Commonwealth Office was £160,258.31.pa In 2003–04, the latest year for which figures are available, the cost of providing catering to the Foreign and Commonwealth Office was £184,201.59.
The figures provided are based upon the subsidy paid to the catering contractor, in each of the years, for the provision of the service in London and Hanslope Park. During the period concerned, there have been changes to the nature of the service provided. In 1996–97, the service in London consisted of one restaurant, one shop and one snack bar. In the intervening years, the snack bar has become a cafeteria with a much wider variety of food on offer.